Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon Act 32 Review

 

The act resumes where the last ended. Chibiusa is understandably extremely excited to see Pluto again and runs to her, the two hugging. It's obviously really sweet.

Sailor Pluto tells Chibi-Moon that Neo-Queen Serenity reincarnated her in the past to help with a new very important mission. This is trying to explain why she returned, but Neo-Queen Serenity would have known this was going to happen. Like the time travel dynamics get confusing, and there's been a lot of debate about it but if you guys want I can make a separate blog explaining the time travel paradox here. 

Chibi-Moon notes Pluto seems different...stronger than she was just as Uranus and Neptune arrive, implying by the way the panel is framed that the Outer Senshi being together is what is making them stronger. There's actual some precedence for this. If you recall back to when Venus first showed up, Sailor Moon's tiara changed implying that the Guardians also got stronger from their unity. 

Sailor Moon suddenly transforms into her princess serenity state, and the three Outer Senshi kneel in reverence before the future queen.

I enjoy how respectful the Outer Senshi are being. Despite their ideological differences with the others this arc, they are not truly at war with them in their hearts, and you can tell. They revere and honor her majesty Serenity the second, and they love Usagi the silly compassionate girl they've met.

The Outer Senshi reintroduce themselves formally again. The soldier of the sky planet Uranus, Sailor Uranus. The soldier of the ocean planet Neptune, Sailor Neptune. The soldier of the underworld planet Pluto, Sailor Pluto. While the Senshi obviously know who they are, this is not meant to be pragmatic but formal and honorific, showing the maturity and dignified status of the Outers.

Sailor Pluto apologizes for their rudeness between the groups, and explains the nature of the Outer Senshi. They protected the Silver Millennium from external enemies, enemies from outside the solar system, fighting on the Sol System's outer reaches, watching over the Silver Millennium from afar. They two were reincarnated on this world due to the entity of a foreign space appearing on the Earth.

The Outer Senshi apologize that it was their fault, that the Death-Busters were able to form a base on the Earth as they had not awoken and sensed the crisis quickly enough to stop them. Sailor Venus asks them about their enemies and they give some exposition about the Death-Busters, coming from a "foreign space" (another space-time continuum/dimension), the Death-Busters come from a galaxy known as the Tau Nebula. They were drawn to this land from an immense energy in the Mugen Sandbank, and either found or created a distortion in space-time to begin their invasion through

Even worse, they add that if they don't stop "the one", the planet will be driven to destruction. The one is their nameless greatest enemy. Haruka gets all passive aggressive, mentioning they infiltrated Mugen Academy until "someone" blew their cover, causing Michiru to chastise Haruka for her rudeness.

Michiru apologizes to the Guardians that they were brought into this. The Guardian Senshi and Princess Serenity insist they can help them, that they should be fight side by side as allies, but Haruka and Michiru both decline. Michiru does so more politely, saying this is their jurisdiction as Outer Senshi, while Haruka is more abrasive and tells them directly not to get involved. 

It's not revealed here, but it's still pretty clear, especially from how Haruka words her statement, that the Outers are also trying to protect the younger senshi. The Guardians represent the idealistic youths, and the Outers the more mature cynical adults. Though they are only one year apart in age, this gap is exaggerated artistically, corresponding to one set being Middle School Age and one High School Age. The Outers want to protect the Guardians, thinking of them as children, not wanting their idealism to be hurt in the dark serious war of the Outers. However as Princess Serenity protests, they have already been in battles; they fought the Dark Kingdom and the Black Moon Clan.

Seeing Serenity's distraught face, Haruka is moved, and asks her not to make such a sad face at her. Michiru comments that Haruka is like a man and a woman combined, that she has the strengths of both genders.

If taken literally, this statement comes out of nowhere. But symbolically this is so perfectly placed. The point of Usagi's confusion about Haruka's gender, was shown in her dreams, meant to show how she was unsure if Haruka was like her or not, to reflect her confusion as to Haruka's heart. Haruka seems cold and abrasive to the Guardian's ideals and their emotions, but then becomes warm and sad at Usagi's own sadness, a reflection of her nature as both at one with Usagi and opposed to her, and so Michiru stating Haruka is both like male and female, means here her heart is at once in alignment with Usagi, that she can understand her feelings and her pain, and yet at the same time oppose it, with a different ideal. Similarly it being stated to be her special power as a Senshi is fitting. Uranus is eccentric, its axis tilted on its side. For this reason it is believed in astrology that Uranus represents androgyny and LGBT people in ones chart.

Neptune concludes that as Outer Senshi, they were granted greater power, greater items, and along with them, greater responsibilities. Once again, they are like older children to the Guardians. Tuxedo Kamen asks Michiru who this mysterious enemy is that they keep speaking off, and if the greater items they speak are of are the three talismans that lead to destruction. Mars continues the thought, commenting on the visions of doom they've been having, that tell them don't gather the talismans, asking the Outers what their mission is with those talismans.

The Outers say that their talismans are for their mission...to kill the "goddess of destruction."

We cut to later, where the Guardians are gathering info on this new enemy, trying to figure out who the goddess of destruction is. Kenji seeing Professor Tomoe in the news, gives some exposition due to his job as a journalist, commenting "oh that mad scientist is at it again." Kenji exposits Tomoe was a world class genetic engineering scholar but that six years ago, in true comic book genetic engineering fashion, he was banished from academic society for his experiments which had gone too far. 

Mamoru finding out more information from this, finds out that the specific experiment that he went too far on, was Professor Tomoe's self-professed "life's work", the creation of super-humans. For his extreme experimentation on animals he was outcasted, setting up independent business in the Mugen Sandbank. However two years later, a massive fire broke out, killing his wife Keiko, and seriously injuring his eight year old daughter Hotaru.

After the accident, Professor Tomoe disappeared from the public eye. Luna asks Chibiusa to keep a close eye on Hotaru, worried about Professor Tomoe and Chibiusa agrees tentatively.

We cut to the Death-Busters, as Pharaoh 90 comments on the Taioran Crystal and its light dying out. He complains that human hoste wear out so quickly, that they have to find the light the Senshi use to replenish the Taioran Crystal's infinite power. Now that they finally found a place they can live in peace, they must fight for it, to preserve themselves. Kaorinite uses her divining pool, seeing three lights shining brighter than the others, the lights accursed to the Death-Busters, the lights that will lead them to destruction, the talismans. 

Kaorinite's divining pool grows murky, and she wonders if its' the Sailor Senshi sending out jamming signals, or the immense energy in the aura of the area itself keeping her from seeing the future. The witch wonders if perhaps they are actually the ones trapped, drawn in by an enchanting light, like a moth drawn to a flame

It's a poetic comparison and one that becomes more relevant not only with later revelations as to what the Omega Area IS, but with the final revelation at the climax of the manga as to what it is to seek out others. 

Professor Tomoe calls Kaorinite's name and in her eagerness to respond she accidentally breaks a beaker. She hastily apologizes, but he tells her not to mind, that defeating the Sailor Senshi should be her only concern. Though it sounds kind, it's actually cold and a veiled threat as shown in his facial expression and his elaboration; that even this task seems to be beyond her subordinates, and that she wouldn't want to incur the master's wrath. He concludes by saying that if she continues to waste their resources, before intentionally breaking a vial, a really cool way of presenting the threat to her life.

Alone, Kaorinite grumbles at Tomoe not understanding how much she goes through for their mission before summoning the last of the Witches V, Cyprine at Level 999, tasking her with not just defeating the Senshi and cleaning up the mess the other Witches made, but with especially finding the defectors from Mugen Academy; Haruka and Michiru.

We cut to Chibiusa who has arranged a get-together with Hotaru, or rather Hotaru called her and arranged it. We get a really cute little sequence where Hotaru suggests they go to a movie, before quickly rescinding the suggestion and saying they could do something else as well, making Hotaru's nervousness and her lack of experience with having a friend clear. 

After a very quick refresher on the Holy Grail, a gag about Kenji being overly protective, and some foreshadowing Ikuko gives off the weather constantly seeming dark these days, Chibiusa is off. Chibiusa gets to the theatre where Momo and Kyuusuke but Hotaru doesn't get there. Chibiusa tells them to go on ahead of her but calls Hotaru concerned, getting no answer.

Concerned Hotaru may have gotten sick again, Chibiusa goes off to Hotaru's house to check on her. We cut to Hotaru talking to Professor Tomoe telling him that the "new parts" feel fine. Hotaru frets about being late while Professor Tomoe tells her about new skin and nerve receptors he's designed. However as Hotaru changes, Chibiusa sees through the window the truth....Hotaru is part artificial, her arm is robotic. Chibiusa apologizes to Hotaru for what she's seen and runs away as Hotaru collapses.

The truth is thus revealed about Hotaru. After the tragic accident, her body was fatally wounded in the fire, and to preserve her, Professor Tomoe turned her into a cyborg. The Mugen Arc of Sailor Moon is an art with a heavy focus on spirituality, with the enemies being those who seek to steal souls. Hotaru's part in this story is to showcase the warring between the soul and the body. She is among, perhaps the most contemplative and spiritually concerned Senshi, trapped in her body. Her body is dead, lifeless, something she emphasizes as she so painfully beautifully calls it "a body in which blood no longer runs" referring to her lifeless form. Her soul seeks to escape that lifeless, to make connection with others in particular this new friend of hers, yet at the same time her body seems to once again trap her, scaring Chibiusa away and convulsing in a fit that keeps her from going after her.

We go into a flashback of a younger Hotaru in the flame desperately calling her for mother as they burn. She awoke from the flame in her new body, carefully put together by her father. Professor Tomoe was obsessed with creating superhumans, and in a desperate bid to save his daughter, he convinced himself he was making her better with this robotic body. 

Hotaru weeps softly. Her father always working, she thought she would die alone. Finally she thought she made a friend, yet her form scared her away. Hotaru wonders at why she's even alive.

Hotaru's story always grips my heart. Obviously it's very sad, and Naoko really tugs at the heartstrings in creating as tragic as possible a picture of the sad lonely girl Hotaru. But moreover and this is the difference between the type of tragedy in fiction that I don't find moving at all, and the ones that kills me; it's all meaningfully sad. No component feels arbitrarily sad or added in just to torment Hotaru. Every component coming together to show this girl who is lives without life, both literally in an artificial body that's not alive, and symbolically living without companionship or meaning, the pieces of living we call truly being alive. The tragedy of Hotaru's situation will be very important for the resolution of the third arc.

Hotaru's forehead burns up, and at her windows appears the three Outer Senshi. Confused she asks who they are, and what they're doing they. The three are silent and she asks if they are goddesses of death before throwing the Taioron Crystal at them, yelling at them to not look at her with such pity, causing them to disappear.

Were they a vision? It's unclear. The Outer Senshi have a mission involving Hotaru, yet even in seeing the pain and suffering she's in, they cannot deliver her from it. In a sense they are goddesses of death for Hotaru, and that Hotaru despises their pity can be seen either as her rejecting death, that she has reasons to want to live still....or that she hates they won't just do it, and deliver her from her suffering, or perhaps both. It's incredible atmosphere the way they appear, and don't speak, looking at her in pity, as though contemplating what to do, if there are any other ways.

Hotaru doubles over in pain, saying it feels like someone else is inside, trying to take over. We cut back to Chibusa who is still running away confusing. She comments to herself that she shouldn't have seen that, that she was surprised, knowing she probably hurt Hotaru's feelings. However out of nowhere it begins to hail, the hail robbing Chibiusa of her energy. Usagi and Mamoru see Chibiusa and get her out of the hail, weathering it notably better.

Hey, I was getting all emotional from the Hotaru storyline, why we have to go back to the actual plot 😋

Cyprine is revealed as responsible for the hail which....on writing this I just sort of now realize, I actually don't know why she did that. Her next move is to literally attack the Outer Senshi herself so it's not like it's a tactic or anything. She's not even trying to gather hoste for Pharaoh 90, it's just something she does. She teleports in and attacks Haruka who isn't even transformed, and Haruka just gives a pre-battle one-liner in response. Isn't Cyprine supposed to be Level 999?

 The Outer Senshi transform and prepare for battle, the resulting energy letting Luna and Artemis who are monitoring in the secret base where they are, so the Guardian Senshi can go to help them.

We cut back to the Guardian Senshi who are reacting to the fact that the streets are erupting in violence, people attacking each other madly. There's a bit of a confusing thing about it where the hail seemed to work on Chibiusa if only draining her energy, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything to the other Senshi.

Luna tells the Senshi that the Outers are fighting Cyprine. The Guardian don't wanna help them after they made clear they aren't on the same side, but Usagi wishes to go to their aid anyway, a demonstration of her trusting personality. She leaves Chibiusa there, telling Mamoru to keep an eye on her.

Meanwhile Cyprine is somehow beating the Outers...even though Haruka brushed off an attack from her without transforming?

Sailor Mars uses her attack on Cyprine which works on Cyprine, sending him back. You'll notice that the Guardian Senshi have grown stronger relative to the Outers, considering that Haruka used to be strong enough to one-shot all them. While the Outers have a fixed power level, the Guardians have been training, representing the static nature of the Outers beliefs and nature, that they are locked into the roles that the Senshi have in the Silver Millennium paralleling Hotaru feeling as though she had a dead body and was trapped in the day of the accident. In contrast the Guardian Senshi are developing and growing, and while not quite as strong yet as the Outers, are far closer to them in strength then they were.

Despite the Guardians saving them, Uranus yells they shouldn't be here, not wanting the Guardians to be hurt for the Outers' mission. However Cyprine uses a spell to influence the minds of the Guardians and Outers, the two preparing to kill each other. Cyprine tells Sailor Moon that she isn't controlling them, merely growing the darkness and hate for each other already existing in their hearts

Sailor Moon tries to attack Cyprine, but she splits into two, Cyprine and Ptilol. It's a pretty direct visual metaphor. Just as she divides the Senshi, so too does she divide into two. 

Chibi-Moon and Tuxedo Kamen show up with Chibi-Moon trying to stop their fight, but Jupiter and Mercury easily swat away her attack and counterattack, Tuxedo Kamen rescuing Chibi-Moon at the last moment. The Four Guardians and the Three Outers clash evenly

The Guardians have developed from the point where Uranus could one-shot all them by herself. 

Sailor Moon yells for the Senshi to stop fighting each other, but they continue to try to kill each other, evenly matching each other while Cyprine-Ptilol laughs sinisterly. Sailor Moon wonders to herself if this truly is the relation between the Guardians and Outers, if this really was the darkness in their hearts. She asks "are we all so hostile deep down?" before declaring no. Usagi chooses to trust the Outers regardless, remembering how they rescued them, how they watched over the Silver Millennium, commenting that the Outers are fighting for what is precious to them, fighting for the same goal as the Guardians. She calls on the hearts of the Senshi to unify, Chibi-Moon and Tuxedo Kamen giving Sailor Moon their hands as a show of unity.

Their hearts come together as one as the Holy Grail manifests before Sailor Moon and she calls their powers together as one, ending the act. 

Act 32 is a great act. This act is an iconic act for the Mugen Arc and with good reason. I think that Mugen has the most complex symbolism of any of the arcs of Sailor Moon. It's an arc broadly about the spirit within people, specifically in the idealistic drive, and contrasts the childish idealism that is simplistic yet alive with the colder utilitarian ethic that while logical, also is spiritually dead. 

That sounds incredibly weighty but those truly are the feelings I get from this act, and the arc in general. The distant Outer Senshi, like the planets they are named for, are distant and hard to connect too. They start the arc as impossibly distant, imposing, intimidating figures far from the Senshi both in the goals of their hearts being strange and otherworldly, yet as the arc goes on their goals and their hearts becoming closer, and so too does the gap between the two group in power close until this act where they fight evenly. It is the plot of literal events reflecting the emotional status of the characters growing closer, ending with Usagi literally bringing their powers together inside her just as she metaphorically brings their hearts together in their shared goal to protect those they care for. 

Shojo stories, and stories meant for women, are often about how to relate to other kinds of people, and here Usagi reflects her greatest quality, her empathy and ability to understand the feelings of others. She was the one who saw the Guardian Senshi for who they were. Though she initially was so far removed from say, Haruka, that she didn't even recognize her as a woman, now she is so close to them that she is able to understand that Cyprine's statement, that there is darkness and hate in their hearts for each other is wrong because she knows their feelings. This contrast is illustrated with Michiru's statement that Haruka is both like a man and like a woman, reflecting both the emotional closeness and farness at the same time to Usagi.

The stuff with Hotaru this chapter is really cool, and it ties beautifully into the themes of the act, though I can't fully explain without spoiling things. However this act makes a contrast between the youthful idealism that allows for growth and the "mature" cynicism that causes things to remain stagnant and Hotaru is associated with the later, in that her body is literally dead and lifeless and emotionally she's unable to move on from her past. When she asks why the "Goddesses of Death" look at her with such pity, it's a statement that can be ambiguously understood as rejecting death or rejecting the pity death took upon her, and while one is optimistic and one is dark, both reflect Hotaru's disdain for the lifeless state she has been forced into, that keeps her from growing symbolically represented by her friendship with Chibiusa.

I love act 32 because it's one of the deepest acts in one of the deepest arcs. This is one of Naoko's emotionally complex acts. Granted in terms of weaknesses, the Cyprine section is kinda weird, involving a couple things that don't really make sense like the why Cyprine used the hail, but broadly speaking this is one of the better acts of the third arc.